Security Council Resolution Demands Aid Access in Syria

New York, Feb 22 2014 - The United
Nations Security Council today unanimously approved a
resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria, a move
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said can at least ease some
civilian suffering, if it is implemented quickly and in good
faith.

Through Resolution 2139 (2014), the Council
demanded "that all parties, in particular the Syrian
authorities, promptly allow rapid, safe and unhindered
humanitarian access for UN humanitarian agencies and their
implementing partners, including across conflict lines and
across borders."

The 15-member Council also called for an
immediate end to all forms of violence in the country and
strongly condemned the rise of Al Qaida-affiliated terror
attacks.

Members insisted that all parties cease attacking
civilians, including through the indiscriminate use of
weapons in populated areas, such as shelling and aerial
bombardment with barrel bombs, whose use has been condemned
by senior UN officials.

Mr. Ban, who participated in the
rare Saturday meeting, welcomed
the resolution but added it "should not have been
necessary" as humanitarian assistance is not something to be
negotiated but allowed by virtue of international law.

He
expressed profound shock that both sides are besieging
civilians as a tactic of war, and noted that reports of
human rights violations continue, including massacres, as
well as sexual and gender-based violence against
children.

In the resolution, the Council strongly
condemned "the widespread violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law by the Syrian authorities"
and urged all parties involved in the conflict to lift
sieges of populated areas, including in Aleppo, Damascus and
Rural Damascus, and Homs.

The resolution builds on the
Presidential Statement adopted four months ago, which
stressed the need for immediate action to protect civilians
and give access to people in need.

Earlier this month,
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos noted that despite
"modest" progress on the humanitarian front, the UN and
partners have not been able to reach the most vulnerable
people in the country.

She underscored her plea to Council
members to do everything they can to use their influence
over the parties to this appalling conflict, to ensure that
they abide by humanitarian pauses and ceasefires, give
humanitarian actors sustained and regular access, commit, in
writing, to upholding international humanitarian law, allow
systematic cross-line access, and prevent UN relief teams
from being shot at while delivering aid to people in
need.

Well over 100,000 people have been killed and an
estimated 9 million others driven from their homes since the
conflict erupted between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
and various groups seeking his ouster nearly three years
ago.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are
currently more than 2.4 million refugees registered in the
region: some 932,000 in Lebanon; 574,000 in Jordan; some
613,000 in Turkey; 223,000 in Iraq; and about 134,000 in
Egypt.

In today's resolution, the Council emphasized that
"the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate in
the absence of a political solution" and expressed support
for the UN-sponsored direct talks between Government and
opposition representatives.

At the end of the second round
of talks last week, Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League
Joint Special Representative, expressed regret that "only
modest cooperation between the sides" was reached on
humanitarian effort. He said the parties agreed to his
proposal that a new round of talks would focus on violence
and terrorism, a transitional governing body, national
institutions and national reconciliation.

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